You’ve got to give Dr Philip Nitschke some credit for telling it like it really is. Whilst Australia’s state-based euthanasia lobby groups and their state-based MP supporters argue for limited legislation with so-called safeguards, Nitschke has consistently advocated for legalisation of euthanasia in a virtually unrestricted fashion - save only for the exclusion of minors and people with mental incapacity.

Alex Schadenberg comments on the recent announcement by President Francois Hollande that, in spite of clear opposition from the national ethics committee, he intends to push a euthanasia bill into the French Parliament later this year.

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that it's up to individual countries to decide on euthanasia. It also decided, however, that the German courts should not have thrown out a widower's appeals.